Designing for Emotion

For my readings this week I learned a lot about emotion and especially the role emotion in design. I agree with the author and found it interesting when he uses Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to show the basic roles design should fulfill. I first heard about this concept in my psychology classes and I found it really interesting to find out that there is a role for it outside of psychology. I also agree with the authors rules about interfaces, especially the one that says an “interface must be usable,” there is nothing worse then going on a website and finding out that you have no idea how to use it and find the information you came to fine. IT IS A NIGHTMARE.

While I liked the overall flow and content of the chapter, there were some things I disagreed with. The thing I disagreed with most was the emphasis that the author put on emotion within websites. Yes, some websites are designed to appeal to peoples emotions in a certain way, but that is not the focus of every website. This is especially true for certain businesses, these businesses are more focused on making user friendly content (as mentioned above) rather than focusing on creating a particular atmosphere within the design. While I did disagree with this, I did enjoy the chapter and wished that it focused on more realms of design!